THE Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) and the Selangor Muallaf Department chief registrar filed an appeal to reinstate the Islamic conversion of three children, which was quashed by the High Court in 2020.
According to Malaysiakini, the appeal was filed with the Court of Appeal bench, chaired by Datuk Suraya Othman. The other members are Datuk Azizah Nawawi and Datuk Hashim Hamzah.
However, during today’s Court of Appeal proceedings conducted via Zoom, counsel Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who is acting for MAIS and the Selangor Muallaf chief registrar, applied for the hearing to be postponed.
The lawyer said this is because the main contentions of the case would come up for hearing in a separate appeal before the Federal Court tomorrow.
Citing the case, both parents got married under civil law in March 2001. The three children were subsequently born on Sept 12, 2002; Aug 27, 2004 and Sept 24, 2007 respectively.
However, on March 16, 2015, the father brought all of his children to Masjid Saidina Hamzah, Batu Muda, Selangor, where he and the children converted to Islam. The kids were then aged 13, 11 and eight, respectively.
The following day, the father brought the children before the Hidayah Foundation Centre at Taman Melawati, Selangor, where all four were registered as muallaf (new converts).
All of these happened without the consent or knowledge of the mother, who did not convert.
The parents eventually got divorced on March 11, 2019, with custody of the three children handed to the mother while the father was granted visitation rights.
Taking her plight to the High Court, the mother’s counsel had relied on the landmark 2018 Federal Court decision of M Indira Gandhi against Perak Islamic Religious Department director and several other parties.
In the apex court ruling, the judges held that when it comes to Islamic conversion of children – where both parents were initially non-Muslims married under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA) but one of the parent later converts to Islam – then the consent of both parents are required before the children could be converted to Islam.
Using the Federal Court ruling as precedence, the High Court quashed the conversion of the three children.
It is to note that the 2018 landmark verdict had essentially empowered civil courts to review the decision of religious bodies such as state muallaf registries to register the Islamic conversion of individuals.
BM version of Federal Constitution supersedes English one?
On the current appeal, MAIS and Selangor Muallaf Department chief registrar is trying to get the court to decide whether the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the Federal Constitution supersedes the English version.
It was because if the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the Federal Constitution supersedes the English version, then the constitutional provisions would only require the consent of only one parent to convert their children to Islam.
The 2018 Indira Gandhi Federal Court decision was made, among others, due to the opposing parties being unable to prove that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had ever assented to the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the Federal Constitution.
On Sept 30, 2003, it was reported that the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the Federal Constitution would supersede the English version, when it received royal assent from Istana Negara.
“Hence, the postponement is needed as the issue of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Federal Constitution will come up in a separate appeal before the Federal Court tomorrow.
“This is until the Federal Court hearing of the separate appeal involving conversion as well tomorrow, or until we get confirmation from the Attorney-General’s Chambers on the launch (by the Agong of the Bahasa Malaysia edition of the Federal Constitution),” Haniff was reported as saying.
Suraya adjourned the hearing today after the mother’s legal team did not raise any objections to it. – Jan 25, 2022.
